Per Wickstrom Discusses Drug Addiction With Kendall Schmidt

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When we examine the problems that face our society today, one of the biggest issues that always seems to pop up is the rampant spread of drug abuse and alcoholism through the youth of America. With increasing social pressures and overstimulation due to television, movies, video games and the internet, guiding our children and young adults down the right path can often be very challenging. Keeping their attention and helping them to find healthy and positive alternatives to using substances is increasingly difficult, and this problem is compounded by the fact that parents and role models have to work much harder and longer hours to provide for their families financially, resulting in less quality time being spent with their kids. It is for this very reason that A Forever Recovery makes every effort to reach beyond the walls of our addiction treatment center to spread our message of substance-free living to as many people as we can, especially today’s youth.

On one such occasion, Per Wickstrom, the CEO of A Forever Recovery, found the opportunity to speak with Kendall Schmidt, a member of the pop music act “Big Time Rush” whose performances are full of positivity geared towards children and teens. The topic of discussion was the obstacles facing our youth today and the different ways that we can be a source of hope and encouragement for them. “My dad talks about when he was a kid and what it was like, and it was a completely different time,” Kendall says of the problem of drug and alcohol use in kids. “It almost seems like it’s a lot worse now, or at least more in the open.” It has become quite evident that if we don’t do everything we can to reach out to children at a young age before they begin to follow that dark path of substance abuse, we have little hope of being able to end the epidemic of addiction that we struggle against.

In discussing these important issues, the question of what we can do to make a difference often comes up. “I think the most important thing is education,” offers Kendall, “and teaching about things that happen in real life.” While the treatment of addiction is the part that we at A Forever Recovery play in the fight against chemical dependency, we believe that prevention and education on the dangers of using drugs and alcohol are equally important in this ongoing battle. We are committed to doing everything we can to help make this world a better place to live and to build a brighter and more promising future for everybody in it.